CHUCK TODD (HOST): We don't know -- hate crime, terrorism. There's a number of directions this is going to go and we know political reaction will be based on what the FBI tells us. Should it matter? It's a terrorizing situation no matter what.
TOM BROKAW: It shouldn't matter. If it turns out to be connected to some kind of an international group, all the politicians will jump all over that and say “we've got to do something about them.” But, let's say it's a domestic shooting, we've got to do something about that. I'm a gun owner, I've been saying this for months now, it's time for people to come together and say “enough.” If he had an assault weapon, if it was an AR-14, Stan McChrystal has said, “not to be in civilian hands.” It's designed to do one thing: to kill people. We don't have any dialogue going on in America about all these mass shootings that have occurred since San Bernardino. And they've been going on around the country, three or more killed at a time. This absolutely belongs in the political debate and it ought to be a place where both parties can talk about it in a rational fashion to dial down “you got a problem, get a gun.” That's what goes on now, it's got to come to an end. It's a terrible commentary.
[...]
JOY-ANN REID: It's a very uncomfortable normal, because while Hugh says it looks like San Bernardino, it also looks like Paris. It also looks like Charleston, right? So, we've had mass-casualty shootings that were purely --
TODD: By the way, dead people are dead people. I hate to say, it all looks bad.
REID: It also looks like Newtown, right? So, we have to have mass-casualty shootings that are affecting children, teachers, people in church. Whether it's a hate crime orwhether it’s related to international terrorism, we're not getting to the core issue which is how easy it is to get a gun. Florida happens to have the largest gun-owning population in the country and some of the most lax laws as to how you can get your hands on even an assault rifle so that if you mean to do harm -- we're talking about a state with nearly 1.4 million law-abiding, obviously, gun owners. But we're not talking about that issue. Right now, the only debate that's taking place in the state of Florida is the Supreme Court weighing whether to allow complete open carry, so that can actually visibly show firearms on the streets of Florida. So we're having a debate that is so disconnected from the real fears that Amy talked about, the fears of people like me, who are afraid to have their kids out in the world, not just because of criminals, but also because of maybe a deranged person.
